Resource Library

Gathers expert insights from adoptees, birth parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, and child welfare professionals to challenge adoption narratives and advocate for reform. This article includes themes of adoption as a lifelong journey, human rights reform, and urgency of education and reform. The panelists include: Amnoni Myers, Sue Badeau, Ridghaus, Dr. Elliotte Harrington, Dr. Dana Johnson and Dr. Gary Mallon.

Discusses how to recognize the signs of secondary traumatic stress using self-assessment and offers concrete strategies to help manage vicarious trauma. Shares self-care techniques to avoid burnout and ways to respond to signs of secondary traumatic stress when they present in others. Is designed for parent group leaders, but is applicable to other support providers.

Explores the needs behind and principles for universal services (services for all children and families) that agencies can provide after permanency, offering examples of promising programs.

Provides listeners with a lived experience perspective from Ms. Alicia Murray. In this episode, listeners will explore the challenges of foster care and adoption journey, discover the profound importance of sibling connections in adoption, embrace the value of openness in adoption and birth family connections, find out how to provide essential post-adoption services and support and uncover the challenges and realities of adopting older children.

Discusses issues of unregulated custody transfers (UCT), also known as rehoming. UCT occurs when parents transfer the physical custody of their child to someone who is not a clos relative or familiar adult, without ensuring the child’s safety or the permanency of the placement. This article emphasizes the importance of regulated and supervised custody transfers to protect the well-being of adopted children.

Explores how Delaware’s Division of Family Services, Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families (DSCYF) used data to improve outcomes for children and families after adoption and guardianship. This article highlights the formation and work of their dedicated CQI team who analyzed why children re-entered foster care after adoption or guardianship.

Explores the North American Council on Adoptable Children’s experience in offering various online support groups to more than 2,000 parents across Minnesota. Topics will include the benefits of online support groups, key considerations in implementation, challenges to plan for, and strategies for moderating the groups to ensure effective support.

Explores in detail how Vermont implemented a survey for adoptive/guardianship families to complete to provide information about their child and family well-being and use of existing services to help sites determine support needs. Provides information to help other sites determine if the survey would work for their jurisdiction and prepare for implementation.

Is a survey that Vermont used—and other jurisdictions can use or adapt—to assess the needs of their adoptive/guardianship families. Includes questions about child and family well-being and the use of existing services.

Provides a brief overview of Vermont’s plan to survey adoptive/guardianship families about their child and family well-being and use of existing services to help the state determine support needs.